Category: carbohydrates

Cholesterol Mythology

Not really, and actually my cholesterol was 190 when I had the heart attack. 190, which isn’t that high.

–Mike Ditka

Guess who else’s cholesterol was well within the Mythical Safe Range when he had his first heart attack? Dwight Eisenhower, who was the ideal weight for his height and was very fit when his first heart attack hit at age 64. His cholesterol was 165.

So of course he was put on the now ubiquitous low-fat diet, which included lots of healthy whole grains like oatmeal and lots of margarine, almost no meat, and no fats but margarine and corn oil. What was the result of this amazingly healthy diet? Well, strangely he started gaining weight for the first time in his life. So much so that he kept cutting his food portions down till he was nearly starving: to no avail. Even more oddly, his cholesterol just kept going up and up. From 165 to 259. Just a couple days after Eisenhower got that highest reading, Ancel Keys got his face on the cover of Time for promoting the new “lipid hypothesis,” which blamed fat for everything and advocated, for the first time, a low-fat diet as the cure for all America’s heart disease problems.

Which, as we all know, has clearly been an incredible success, since Americans have no heart disease anymore.
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Paradoxing

Vegetables are interesting, but lack a sense of purpose when unaccompanied by a good cut of meat.

–Fran Lebowitz

I spent some time this week with The Vegetarian. I just met her, but I think she’s due her own capitalized title. A lovely person and not at all evangelistic about her food choices. Credit where credit is due, after all. She doesn’t do it because of any religious or ethical scruples, but because she believes it to be the best way to avoid cancer. But when you’re eating butter, oil, and steaks, and she’s eating chips and salads, one of you is bound to notice something. We didn’t argue or even really discuss, but we did briefly explain our opposing views.

She got where she is by reading, if I recall the title correctly, The Food Revolution. In another post we’ll take a look at that book, but for now let’s go paradoxing, shall we? It’s a little like parasailing, only not at all.

I would like to promise it’ll be fun, but as I’m now in a plane at 38,000 feet crossing the entire United States–and we are currently over North Dakota–I’m afraid we’re shockingly short on fun. And room. And food. Thank goodness I don’t need to eat every two hours, because I don’t have $17 to shell out for a tiny box of “food.”

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Sugar

I love to eat–Kit Kats or cookies-and-cream ice cream. I need sugar like five times a day. –Kim Kardashian

Doesn’t that quote rattle your brain a little bit?

I mean, would anyone argue that a diet like that is healthy? I don’t think so. And yet do people publicly denounce Ms. Kardashian as unhealthy, or suggest she needs to change up her diet? No. Why not?

Dare I suggest it’s because she’s not fat?

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Pardon Me; Your Bias is Showing 1

It is a good morning exercise for a research scientist to discard a pet hypothesis every day before breakfast. It keeps him young.

–Konrad Lorenz

It’s science today, folks. If you want to run screaming for the door, now’s the time.

I noticed two headlines in the news today. One illustrates total bias in the way something is reported; the other shows proper scientific reporting of a finding that may generate a hypothesis worth looking at. The first is designed to frighten you, the second is designed to inform you.

Continue reading Pardon Me; Your Bias is Showing 1

Paging Dr. Oz…

Everything must be taken into account. If the fact will not fit the theory—let the theory go. ― Agatha Christie

“Paging Dr. Oz. Dr. Oz to the ER, stat.”

Nurse, what’s wrong?

Doctor, thank goodness you’re here. One of your patients is doing very poorly.

Oh no! Which one?

Lipid H. Po. Thesis

NO!

Continue reading Paging Dr. Oz…

Failure

Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I’ve done it thousands of times.

–Mark Twain

The Roommate’s latest suggestion for a post is to reflect on why people might try ditching the gov’mint approved Food Pyramid (we’re 100 certain!) and then after a while give up on this new way of eating.

And by “ditching the Food Pyramid” I don’t mean going on the cookie diet.

As “Dr.” Siegal says, “Hunger Wrecks Diets®©™,” so order all your cookies and shakes now and don’t ever stop eating. That’s the key. And also don’t forget to take all the nutritional supplements, since cookies apparently don’t provide all the nutrition you need.

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Insanity

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

–Albert Einstein

I woke up this morning to see similar headlines blasted all over the web. I would love to quote it for you, but I just can’t decide which particular headline to use.

The upshot of all the headlines is that the FDA has finally approved a new obesity drug, Belviq, for sale in the USA. And there are so many things to mock here that my head is swimming. It’s like that time I got dragged to go “fishing” at a fish farm. The pond was about 3 feet deep, 20 feet widem and 10 feet long and contained approximately 1,546,453 fish.

You could just put on your apron, grab one with your bbq tongs, and stick it right on the grill.

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The Best Laid Plans

It does not do to leave a live dragon out of your calculations, if you live near him.

–J.R.R. Tolkien

Especially if dragons make good eating. I’ll have to check on that.

I’ve gotten a few requests to be more specific about what I eat and especially to discuss the proportions and “how to” of it all.

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That Is The Question

A bear, however hard he tries, grows tubby without exercise.

–A.A. Milne

Another big question I get in eating this way is, “what about exercise?” This is a good question. If you read at all, or are able to hear, you’d think that exercise was the magic elixir that solves all of life’s problems. You can’t open a web page anywhere without seeing it lauded in glowing terms as the key to weight loss, heart health, and even longevity.

Of course you can’t find many centenarians who exercise, but we’ll just call that a paradox and pretend it doesn’t happen. The key for you to live a long life is obviously to exercise.

Only maybe it isn’t.

Because there are enough paradoxes lying around here to build our own gym with.

Continue reading That Is The Question